Sledding
by XxBlack-SnowflakexX
Summary: Mike and Zoey go sledding! But there's an teensy-little problem- Mike is terrified of sledding.


**Hello all!**

**Okay, If you are reading this, and you're only here because of my Rise of the Guardians stories, I'M WORKING ON IT, I PROMISE!. I just haven't really been in the spirit as of late. But I WILL get around to updating it, and I will try my hardest to finish both stories.**

**Just be patient, and enjoy this little fic :)**

**Sledding**

_By Yours Truly_

Mike stared down from the top of the white-blanketed hill. It was chilly outside for mid-december, but he was sweating regardless. He could feel his heartbeat racing and his breathing becoming irregularly fast. He did not want to go down this hill. Not this hill. And he especially did not want to go down this hill in the sled that Zoey was holding in her gloved hands.

Zoey, on the other hand, was ecstatic. She had not gone sledding since she was very young, when her father would take her to the snowy hills outside of town on Christmas eve, and they would sled together, father and daughter. But as she got older, the sled became too cramped for a grown man and his growing daughter. So Zoey would go by herself to the hills on Christmas, but it wasn't the same without someone to ride down the hill with. So as the years passed, the sled would stay in the garage during Christmas eve, forgotten.

However, visiting Mike this Christmas vacation, she had discovered a sled in his basement, hidden behind a mountain of boxes. It looked oddly smashed in the front, but otherwise looked unused. And it was BIG. It could fit both her and Mike, which was why they were standing on the hill at that moment in time.

Zoey ran her fingers across the top of the sled. It looked as if it had been smashed against a tree or something, as the front was broken and splintered. Whoever this sled used to belong to, they didn't take very good care of it, even if it looked like it had been used only once.

"Are you ready?" Zoey's cheerful voice broke Mike out of his trance. He looked down at her and mustered a weak smile.

"I don't know, do you really want to do this?" Zoey did not miss the shakiness of his breath as he drew air in. She looked over to see him staring back down the hill, as if there were an actual living thing at the bottom that would swallow him if he got too close. His hands were shaking at his side, and his face looked pale.

"Are you okay? You look like you're staring into the face of death," Zoey said, concerned.

_If only you knew_, Mike thought as he looked up to give Zoey another weak smile.

"I'm fine." Were the only words he could manage.

Zoey drew in a breath. He obviously didn't want to do this. She had to practically had to drag him here. And he didn't want to go back, either. Whatever fears he had of this, he wanted to face them to make her happy. Zoey didn't know how she felt about it. As his girlfriend, wasn't it her job to do what made him happy? This obviously did not go on the list of things that Mike enjoyed. But at that, it was his job to make her happy as well.

So they were at the fork in the road. Where would they go at this point?

Mike did want to make Zoey happy. But this was one thing he could not do. He wouldn't. It scared him beyond words. But he couldn't explain that to Zoey, either. It wouldn't make sense to her. To be scared of something that happened years ago, when he wasn't even seven years old. How stupid was that?

"What's wrong, Mike?"

Mike looked up in surprise. What was he supposed to say?

She answered for him, "I know you don't want to sled. But why not?"

Mike shivered.

"Would it help to talk about it?"

He looked down, and gave a slight nod. Zoey placed the sled flat on the ground and sat on it. She motioned him to sit next to her, to which he slowly lowered himself onto, like he was afraid it would bite him. As soon as he got onto the sled, Zoey pulled him into a warm hug.

"Now, what's been bugging you?"

He took a breath in and blew out, watching the steam from his mouth rise up into nothingness.

"When I was almost seven years old..." He started, paused, and started again, "I got a brand new sled for Christmas. I thought it was the coolest gift I had ever gotten, so I went sledding that afternoon."

"I wanted to sled down this hill, because all of the kids at school had told me that it was the only hill worth sledding down. To all of us at the time, it seemed like the biggest, steepest hill. So when I got the sled I went directly here. When I got to the top of the hill, it was empty. Everyone was celebrating with their families, I guess. But I knew they would be here soon, so I wanted the hill to myself before anyone else came."

"So I got on the sled and pushed myself off. It was only until I was gaining speed that I realized that I had no idea how to steer a sled. And I was really going. The wind stung at my eyes and made me have to shut them to stop the burning."

"It was totally crazy. I didn't know where I was on the hill until I opened my eyes. Do you see that tree over there?" Mike pointed his finger at gnarled tree at the bottom of the hill. Zoey looked over the tree. It looked dead, with broken branches everywhere. But at the base of the trunk, there was an odd dent in it, a dent that looked like it had been caused by a sled coming down at full speed...

Zoey looked up at Mike "Don't tell me..."

Mike nodded in confirmation "When I opened my eyes I was ten feet from the tree. Going at full speed. It didn't even occur to me at that point that I needed to bail out. I just saw the tree coming at me at full speed."

"Then all I remember after that was lying on the ground. It so much Zoey, it..." He looked down at his hands with a scared expression that made him look like a little boy. Zoey wished she could hug him tighter.

Mike looked up at Zoey, tears in his eyes " It felt like someone had ripped out my arm. All I saw was white and red. It hurt to move, but then I started shaking," His body started shaking in Zoey's arms as if to illustrate his point, "And I couldn't stop, and it hurt so bad, and then I started crying and screaming for someone to help me. It hurt so much, all over, and no one was there to make it stop."

"I must have been in shock or something when they found me and brought me to a hospital. All I remember was waking up in a hospital bed, and Dad was there with my sled. He asked if I wanted it back, and I started freaking out. When we got home I threw it down the stairs of my basement, and I didn't look for it again."

Mike looked like he was about to cry when he finished his story. Zoey rested her head on his shoulder.

"Oh, Mike." She looked up sadly "I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry. I wish I could make you feel better."

They sat there for a long time, looking down at the tree.

"I want to try."

Zoey looked up in surprise. After that story, she couldn't blame him if he didn't want to do it. "Mike, you don't have to."

"I want to. For you. And for me. I can't live for the rest of my life in fear of my own sled, can I?" He stared at the tree with a new determination.

"Mike, are you sure?"

"I am."

They stared at each other for a few seconds. Then Zoey kissed him on the cheek. Mike turned red and stammered a thanks, but Zoey hushed him. "I'm so proud of you." She said. He smiled.

Zoey sat in front while Mike rode on back. As they pulled the sled up to the edge of the hill, she could feel Mike start to shake. She reached back and put her hand on his shoulder. As she did, his shivering stopped.

Mike stared down the hill. It looked like a long drop. And a scary drop, at that.

"Hey, Mike?"

"Y-yeah?"

"Can you push us off please?"

"S-s-sure." His hands released the ground he was clinging to. He felt like he was pushing himself off to his demise.

They slid slowly. Slowly, slowly, over the edge. Time seemed to stop.

Then they went down.

Mike was vaguely aware of him screaming. His stomach felt like it was going to turn inside out. The wind whipping through his hair felt like knives. Then, through the sound of his fear, he could hear Zoey laughing. He stopped screaming and just listened to her laugh. He didn't even realize the sled had stopped. And he was still gripping onto Zoey.

"Oop- Sorry." He pulled away, blushing.

Zoey smiled. "I'm proud of you, Mike." She hugged him as tight as she could, and he slowly returned the hug.

Together they pulled the sled up, not looking back at the gnarled tree at the bottom.


End file.
